Dedicated to Devon Gilbert, was in a car accident on November 13th @ 9:18 PM and suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury. Read his story under the tab named "Devon's Journey"

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1/18, exactly one month after going into the ICU again

Devon is now shunt free! Doctor said in 20 years of being a NeuroSurgeon, he has only seen 2 or 3 people ever go from "needing a shunt" to "not" needing a shunt. This is something that our church family and us has been praying for. God gave us yet another miracle! Now today we have to get our home IV antibiotics figured out, and his blood thinners for the clots, and we could be going home as soon as tomorrow, but more than likely Monday!

James 5:15 says"And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up....."

1/8/2013.... Still in the ICU, since the last post. Devon has beaten the Meningitis, beaten the Pnuemonia, Beaten the Staff infection that went septic. Sodium in bobbling up and down all around the normal levels. Today they did another doppler and said his right leg was full of blood clots and his left leg from the calf down had a pretty good one. The clot in the Jugular is a pretty good size one for where its at. They said they will not retrieve them. there are too many things that could go wrong. Now his stomach is distended, and the general surgeon wants to wait till Monday at least just to make sure there are no other infections. What is amazing about that, is we have been praying that Devon would not need a shunt. Today we were told he did by the Neurosurgeon. We did not, nor will not loose our faith in what we pray for. We will continue to pray that God will take away that need for the Shunt. If for no other reason, but for his glory! So we wait and pray, still camped out in the ICU, right here at St Dominic Hospital

Devon's in the hospital again.12/18/2012Looks like it is going to be a while before he gets out. We came in Tuesday Dec 18 because Devon wasn't feeling too good and breathing strange. When they did a blood test his Sodium Level was 187. That is a lethal level. His Potassium was the same way, although I don't remember the number. It was at a lethal level too. The cultures also show a blood infection. Other wise known as "sepsis". They immediately got worried about the shunt. So the did a spinal tap and found a very low infection in the CSF. Although such a low count, its really still classified as Meningitis. They had already started pumping his full of Antibiotics for the blood infection, they just had to add a new one. The next step was to remove the shunt to keep from spreading blood infection any more than it already had into the CSF. Friday morning they did a doppler on his legs to make sure he wasn't getting any blood clots, and low and behold, they find his entire right leg is occluded and the left leg from the knee down also. The immediately send him to surgery to install a filter. Usually they would try blood thinners first but Devon had a Ventricualar drain put in when the Shunt was removed. Blood thinners would cause the brain bleed. We couldn't get a CT with dye to find all the blood clots because Devon's liver had already taken a beaten. Docs said he could loose his liver by doing this. When the went in to his neck to place the filter. They found another clot in his Jugular. They were able to remove that one, but we still don't know where and how many more there are. Today it seemed like everything was getting back to normal, when we noticed Devon's eyes were't reacting. So we are in prayer that there is not any more clots roaming around in Devon

Subject:Ben Ruminations

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat...

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school... The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.. And we said okay..

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.